A Hero's Promise
by QueenYoda
Summary: "I never want you to forget that, alright? Never stop fighting, just like I taught you." The hot tear that flooded down Barry's face felt like the future. It felt like his heart being burdened with an omen he had never wanted. "Promise me that."
1. Chapter 1

_"_ _Barry, how can you have Super speed and still not be on time?"_

Barry let out a slow breath as Oliver's words rang in his mind. A headache was starting to develop behind his eyes, throbbing in tune with his still rushing heartbeat. He ignored the pain though. It was not the first time he had had to ignore it, and goodness knew it would not be the last. Probably. If they managed to defeat the Dominators.

"Sorry," Barry whispered under his breath to the empty display case before him, sadly. He remembered the display case in Arrow cave one. No more than a cold, dank basement, Oliver's old hideout was a cave compared to the high-tech training facility they had now. Team Arrow had grown- built itself up from the ground a hundred plus times. Oliver had built himself up.

While Barry had only torn the entire timeline down out of his own selfishness.

"I guess the super tardiness kinda neutralizes it," he can still see Oliver rolling his eyes at him at that first training. They had both been different men then, Barry a naïve and enthusiastic boy trying to play a hero while Oliver was still a battered and distrustful man attempting to be a teacher. It was sort of funny, when he thought back on it now. His arrogance and Oliver's detachment.

But it was the kind of funny that squeezed the breath from Barry's lungs because… Oliver over the years had transformed into _Ollie_. And Ollie was gone, kidnapped by aliens from another galaxy or planet or whatever and having who knows what done to him… Cisco had promised that Oliver was alive- they all were. Just… Sleeping, it looked like. Which didn't assuage Barry in the least.

"I'm sorry," he whispered again, feeling a lump in his throat. He had been too slow. Why was he always too slow? He was the fastest man alive. He was the frickin _Flash._ Why was he always so slow?

 _"_ _Barry, how can you have Super speed and still not be on time?"_

The Green Arrow's display case was empty. Oliver had been wearing the suit when… It didn't matter. Barry had run, his legs aching in just the short sprint from how quickly he had spurred to action, begging himself not to be too late this time. He had seen the shock- and yes, even hints of fear- in Oliver's eyes right before he vanished. Right before Barry failed him. He would have done anything to be on time.

A clatter startled Barry out of his guilty contemplation. Inhaling sharply (Oliver would have cautioned him _never_ to let his guard down. See? Failure) he swiveled around to see Kara standing awkwardly by the salmon ladder, a hand outstretched and the now dormant bar lying on the ground. She cringed when she noticed him staring. "Oops."

Her silliness made Barry smile a little. "We've all done it," he assured her, remembering the many times he had knocked over something in the Arrow cave. He walked over and, avoiding gazing at Oliver's favorite means of exercise, replaced the bar on the ladder once more. "Where are the others?" he wondered.

"Cisco and Felicity took the recruits out. Said they were gonna go _borrow_ some supplies from a place called Palmer tech?" Barry nodded. Now he recalled. They had needed more supplies in order to hack the alien technology, hopefully to read more about their plans, and since Felicity did not own Palmer Technologies anymore, they needed to steal. He should have been out there with them but after tonight… He needed some time.

"What is this?" Kara asked then, turning to the display case. She looked around, eyes going wide with wonderment as her gaze raked over the other empty cases. And then Laurel's.

"This is where Team Arrow store their suits," Barry explained, his gaze lingering on the Black Canary's outfit a moment longer. Then he returned to home base. "This one is for the Green Arrow."

"Hence the green light, I'm guessing."

"He does like green."

Barry remembered asking why, once. When Oliver snapped at him significantly less but still in a time when Barry would never have believed he would become such good friends with the man. There was a time Barry wondered how anyone became friends with Oliver Queen. Now… He sighed. "It's for camouflage," he explained aloud, recalling the quipped answer Oliver gave.

Kara's eyes strayed to his face, curiously. "The green?"

"Yeah. Oliver spent five years on a deserted island in the North China Sea…"

 _"_ _I don't get cold, Barry."_

"That's where he learned to fight and survive. He's been through things I… I couldn't even imagine in my worst nightmares…"

 _"_ _My father shot the crewmember, told me to survive, and then turned the gun on himself. He shot himself in the head."_

"And on the island, he found a way to dye his clothes green so that he could blend in with his surroundings. It stuck, I guess. I mean, I assume it did because he told me that…"

 _"_ _But you aren't on the island anymore Oliver. Why not change the color?"_

He stopped, hearing Oliver's voice in his head so clearly that his entire being vibrated with the pain of it. Barry closed his eyes against the emptiness of the space before him. No green, no black, no arrow, no Oliver. He had been too damn slow.

Kara put a hand on his shoulder, somehow sensing his agony. "Barry?"

"He told me that the he still wore green as a reminder than even though he left the island… The lessons he learned on the island will never leave him," Barry inhaled shakily and crossed his arms. He was cold all of a sudden, and he felt very, very alone. It had been bad enough when he admitted his transgressions to a host of people that he cared for and admired, but then Oliver had stood up for him, had stood by him even when Diggle and Thea ditched. Oliver had not abandoned him and in truth, though Barry was the stated leader of the group everyone knew that Oliver called the shots.

 _Barry smiled. "We'll talk about that."_

 _"_ _I'm sure we will," a rare and dimpled grin. "And then I'll call the shots."_

They were co-leaders. Equals. Oliver didn't have fancy powers or a mind equipped for science. But he always managed to be more than enough. Barry was the fastest man alive and he couldn't even find it within himself to be fast enough. No wonder Rene had not trusted him at first sight. He could see past the red lightning façade and cool super speed to his core… And at his core, Barry would never be the Green Arrow.

"We're going to get them back, Barry," Kara's reassuring timber brought him back to reality. It was not much better than his thoughts. He considered nodding. A leader should not show any weakness after all. Barry looked down, about to agree shakily when he saw Kara's deep blue eyes staring up at him, brow slightly crinkled, concern shining in depths that also swirled with strength and courage. Oliver's eyes.

His resolve broke. "Yeah," he choked out. "But how? What do you think the Dominators are doing to them on that ship, Kara? It's been nearly twenty-four hours since we last saw them. That's plenty of time to wipe their memory… remove an arm… Break a rib or someone's spirit." Kara gripped his arm in a firm hold, making him tense a tad as her strength bit into his flesh.

"You can't think like that, Barry," she scolded him firmly, turning him so that he had to stare directly at her face. It was a mask of anxiety and determination. "It'll only eat you up and believe me, that will _not_ save the others. If Oliver is as strong as you say, then he can take being kidnapped by some stupid aliens, don't you think?"

Her logic was unwelcome in this moment. "How can I _not,_ Kara?" he snapped, yanking his arm from her grip. His fear peaked so high it slithered up his throat as rage, making his head pound with vile anger. He hated it, he hated the world, he hated himself. "How can I not think of every terrible thing they could be going through? I brought them here. And what if this is all my fault?" He gasped, smacking a hand to his chest. "I changed the timeline! What if the Dominators would never have come if not for me? What if we get up there and my friends are…" He couldn't finish. He blinked past the tears blurring his vision and turned back to the empty case.

He struggled to regain composure. Kara stood by his side, helplessly. "Oh, Barry," she sighed.

"Oliver told me that I'm not a god. And he's right, but I am the fastest man alive. I am responsible for my family. I've already failed so many of them already," he hung his head. "If we get there and they are hurt or… _Gone._ Kara, I won't be able to live with myself."

They sat in silence a long moment, Barry barely hanging on to his sanity and pride while Kara bit her bottom lip worriedly. Finally, she hugged her elbows and snorted a little. "You know earlier when Rene said that if he had spoken to Oliver like he did us, Oliver would have kicked his ass?" Barry gave a start before allowing a small snicker to spring out of his mouth in amusement.

"Oliver would have _flattened_ his ass," he agreed, remembering his own fair share of ass flattening's by the other man.

Kara chuckled. "I believe it. Well, if he could hear you now, Barry, I think he'd flatten your ass too. I think that no matter what happens today, tomorrow, next week or year; whether we win or lose the fight with the Dominators or you fix whatever's broken in the timeline…. I know Oliver would want you to go on with your life. To keep going, no matter how far or fast you have to run to do it."

 _"_ _Run, Barry. Run."_

He shivered. A tear dribbled down the side of his nose. "I don't think I can," he closed his eyes as a sob escaped. The sheer amount of times and things he had mortally jacked up began to weigh on his shoulders, dragging him down into waters of despair. Barry was not sure if he could survive another second of knowing how royally he had screwed up. "I don't know if I want too."

"Yeah? Well, that's tough. I'm pretty sure there's a point in everyone's life when they don't want to go on, Barry. When they want to give up. It's ok to feel that way and to fall down," she grabbed his arm again and shook it, eyes wide and earnest. "Barry _, it's ok to be scared_ ," she emphasized. "We're not heroes because we're perfect or noble or fearless. We're heroes because we never let that fear stop us from doing what is right," his knees buckled and Barry felt more droplets falling down his face, making trails of salt along his cheeks and nose.

His shoulders drooped beneath the weight of the world, and before the Arrow's empty shell, The Flash collapsed to his knees. Super Girl was right there alongside him, gently easing him to the floor and grounding him in the here and now.

And right here and now, it was ok to be scared.

Scared for his friends. Scared for this world. Scared Cisco would never forgive him and he would never forgive himself. That Wally would get hurt. That Caitlin would become something unrecognizable. That he would never be fast enough when it counted. Barry was terrified of all these things and more but as Kara wrapped her arms around him and let him sob into her shoulder, he allowed the fear to run through him.

Fast and far until it had run out.

When the fear ended, Barry looked up and sniffled. Kara smiled at him gently, rubbing his back. "You good?" Barry nodded and pulled away, mortified.

"Y-yeah. I'm good now," they stumbled to their feet together, awkward and bumbling and ungraceful and so _unheroic_ that Barry couldn't help but smile. He looked down at Kara, wiping away his tears hurriedly. His heart swelled with gratitude and fondness. "Thank you, Kara," he whispered as they allowed their hands to fall to their sides. Then, impishly he added: "I think that worked even better than Oliver's ass flattening."

Kara grinned. "That's why they call me _Super_ girl," she quipped.

"That was a really bad joke."

"Too soon?"

Before Barry could tell her that _all_ bad jokes came too soon, he heard the sound of doors slamming open and looked up to see Felicity Smoak hurrying down the stairs, her hair disheveled and face a mask of relief and eyes sparkling with joy. "Barry!" She cried, flinging her arms around his neck as the rest of Team Arrow filed down the stairs, chattering excitedly. "We got em! Nate has them in the Wave Rider and they're coming home!" Barry blinked in shock.

"What?" he gasped aloud. " _What?_ I mean, all of them? Are they alright?" Felicity released him and looked up, grinning from ear to ear.

"Yes, all of them! And as alright as being kidnapped by aliens leaves a person, I'm assuming. C'mon," she reached out and grabbed Kara's hand as well. "Nate is taking them to Star Labs. I have to be there to meet them." Barry blinked rapidly.

 _They're alright._

Felicity did not appreciate his slow uptake on the situation. She stomped a foot, glaring now. "Barry!" She exclaimed, snapping in his face impatiently. He gave a start.

"Oh, right, right!" Barry laughed a bit, astounded and relieved. They were _alright._ They were coming home and he wasn't alone and it was going to be alright. "Yeah. Let's do that. Catch you guys later," he said to the other members of Oliver's team, already wrapping an arm around Felicity's shoulders to pick her up.

"And stay out of trouble!" Felicity tossed over her shoulder as they raced away.


	2. Chapter 2

Thea wasn't at Star labs when Barry arrived. Coming to a dead halt, his feet stuttered over themselves as his entire being stopped. Felicity let out a small gasp at the impact, but recovered quicker than most humans did. Kara landed beside him a second later, in time to see Felicity jump out of Barry's arms.

Huddled in a small despondent circle were the survivors of the Dominator's capture. When they heard him, they all turned and Barry's heart skipped a beat when he saw Oliver staring at him with eyes that had seen the rise and fall of men… And perhaps had fallen a bit too hard himself. Barry felt concern flow through him. Oliver hadn't had that look in his eyes for a long time, and he had prayed he might never see it again.

"Thank goodness you're ok!" Felicity cried, throwing herself at Oliver first. He wrapped his arms around her tenderly, as if afraid he might break her. They held on for a beat longer than Barry would have assumed, silently conveying some message without words before Felicity released him to hug Diggle. Barry approached Oliver cautiously.

"Ollie?" He asked, uncertainly. Oliver's eyes flickered over to him, far away and dejected. Kara walked over, looking around.

"Where's Speedy?" She wondered worriedly.

"Nate took her home." Barry's blood froze as he gripped Oliver's arm so tightly he actually made Oliver tense with surprise. Which was odd. Oliver didn't get startled unless his focus was way off, and his focus was only ever way off if someone he loved was in danger.

"Is she alright?" He demanded.

"She's fine," Sarah stepped up, her own eyes expressionless but her body language was clear. She was protecting Oliver, placing herself in front of him as if to guard his body from bullets.

Protecting him from Barry. He was so floored he flinched. "We have another problem. The Dominators kidnapped us to collect data on Metahumans. We aren't sure how much information they got," Barry dared not ask how this interrogation had taken place. He shook his head. Now wasn't the time to worry about their well-being.

"And there are about two hundred ships on their way to Earth. Like right now," Diggle added. They all looked to him with their despondent eyes.

"Uh… Yeah. Right. Ok, so we have to do something," _Smooth, Barry._

"I'll see if I can pinpoint exactly where the Dominator's ships are," Felicity determined, taking charge as readily as Barry could not. She gave the others pointed looks. "You guys get some rest."

Sarah tensed as if she had been personally affronted. "We're not _kids_ , Felicity," she pointed out coldly.

"No," Felicity agreed evenly. "You are humans who have just been kidnapped by _aliens._ Forgive me if I think you'd need some time to recuperate before going out to fight them all over again. I'll have Barry come get you when I know something," Barry couldn't help but smile a little. Only Felicity would speak to five people who could quite quickly kill her like that.

"She's right," Kara piped in, sympathetically. "You guys have done enough. We'll take it from here," her voice was nothing if not earnest, but the survivors did not budge.

Ray sighed. "I know you're trying to help, Kara, but…"

"But we didn't endure what we just went through to come back and let others _take care of it_ for us," Oliver finished, tightly. He stepped out from behind Sarah, and his eyes were ablaze with his signature 'I will put an arrow in anyone who opposes me,' look. "This is still our fight- more our fight than anyone else's at this point. And we will rest when it is over," his voice brooked no room for argument. "So," Oliver looked at him. "Fill us in. Then we're getting to work. Training, researching, whatever. Now isn't the time to be human," and so he had become something more. He had become the Arrow again, and the Arrow was not to be disobeyed.

Felicity's mouth puckered in worry but she remained silent. Barry and Kara exchanged a glance. There was little else to do now. They had run out of leverage, and Earth was running out of time.

It was nearly the end.

* * *

Hours later, Barry had not meant to eavesdrop. He really hadn't. He hadn't even meant to stumble across Diggle trying to destroy the punching bag. He didn't know what problem Dig had with bags and far be it from him to find out and put an end to it. The world wasn't low on punching bags after all, and Barry wasn't _that_ stupid.

Or so he had believed.

Until he stumbled across John Diggle in one of the hidden storage compartments in Star Lab's basement. Barry had come down here for a moment of quiet but it looked as if Dig had gotten there first. The other man was shirtless, his hands balled into tight fists as he drove punch after forceful punch into the hard leather. "Um, Dig?" And Barry had to open his stupid mouth.

Diggle stopped, surprised, and the next thing Barry knew, he was desperately ducking in order to avoid the fist suddenly flying at his face. "Wow, just me! Just me!" And that did not necessarily mean that Dig didn't have the right to hit him anyway.

"Barry?!" Diggle cried, disarming. He stared at Barry irritably. "Are you crazy, man? I could have killed you there."

"So I've deduced," Barry agreed breathlessly.

"What are you doing here?" Now Barry blushed.

"I came here for a bit of quiet, you know? Then I found you…"

"And almost died."

"And almost died. But Dig, you're injured remember? Don't you think pulling at that wound is a bad idea?" Diggle's face morphed from irritation to something like… Guilt? Ah, Barry cocked his brows. "Oliver doesn't know you're down here, does he?" he asked.

Diggle waved a dismissive hand. "Nate healed me up mostly on the Wave Rider. I'm perfectly fine. Besides," he turned and whacked the punching bag. "Oliver isn't my keeper. I'm fighting fit and I handled myself pretty well there, didn't I?" It seemed to be a rhetorical question so Barry just nodded dumbly. He had no clue what had happened besides that the others had been used for information about them. Metahumans.

Him.

"Hey Diggle?" Barry asked cautiously, because he had too. Dig stopped punching a moment to regard him stonily, as if he already knew what Barry was going to ask and was preparing himself for it. "What did happen? How did the Dominators get info from you guys?" Diggle sighed, his broad shoulders slouching as his entire body seemed to shrink in on itself. Barry gulped, suddenly unsure if he wanted to know.

But knowing that he had too.

"They put us in some kind of hypnotic state while they dug around in our heads," Diggle explained. "In an imaginary world. It was… Amazing and terrifying at once. All of our wildest dreams and fantasies. Laurel was alive," Diggle rammed another fist into the bag at that one. "Oliver never got on the Gambit so he never went to that island. His parents were alive. Ray owned his company again and was engaged to Felicity. Andy was alive and well and _my brother_ again. And I… I was the Green Arrow," Diggle grinned a little as he hit his target a second time. "I kicked Oliver's ass," he informed Barry with no small amount of pride.

Barry huffed a surprised laugh. "Sounds nice," he said, admittedly shocked. He had expected torture, agony, or at least some worse mind games. Not… A paradise.

"Yeah," Diggle agreed softly, his eyes far-away and glassy. The, as if something had occurred to him, he added: "We were in a dream state, Barry. Had no idea what was happening to us, or that our minds were being ransacked. You know that none of us would have willingly given the dominators info on the metahumans if we'd had a choice," he paused. "Don't you?" Barry's eyes widened.

"Yeah! No. I mean of course I know that, Dig. That isn't what I was asking at all. I just…" He trailed off helplessly, sighing, Diggle gave him a long, hard stare before nodding empathetically. Then, as if something in him had popped, he wound back his arms and delivered several hard jabs to the bag.

"But. None. Of. It. Was. _Real_ ," he accentuated with every hit. "It was a dream. _A lie._ That's not how things happened Barry. We don't get to have everything," Barry cringed as the problem occurred to him. It was like being introduced to heaven…

And then being told that you were destined for Hell instead.

"It's not fair, you know?" Diggle reflected softly, not looking at him but straight ahead, as if speaking to some unknown specter. "I've never seen Oliver so happy. And then to have it all taken away, to know that it never truly happened… It was a low blow for me. But I still have a wife and son to go home too. I still have friends and a brother. I still have a chance to be normal," he eyed Barry pointedly. "Or as normal as life will ever get for us, anyway. But for the others? It was a sock in the face. They don't deserve it, Barry," now Diggle turned away, and the fire in his eyes was not rage for his own sake.

"You should go see him. Oliver will put on his Arrow mask until someone pushes him to face what happened." Barry blinked, taken aback. How was _he_ going to help with that? Oliver was ten times more stubborn than anyone Barry had ever met, and besides it was his fault. He had been too slow. He hadn't been able to save them.

He rubbed his eyes with a sigh. He was so… Exhausted. Beyond exhausted. "Dig, I don't think that's…"

"You look up to him, Barry," Diggle interrupted curtly. "And he knows it. He won't risk losing your… _Awe_ by lying. That's something he's never had to worry about with the rest of us; we have never been really in awe about him but you've managed to hold onto your innocence." Diggle finally stared hard at him, and there was a spark of something… resentment? Respect? In his dark eyes.

"And Oliver would never risk destroying that innocence in you by hurting you. He'll try to protect you, but he won't lie to you. So talk to him, make sure he doesn't do something stupid," and then, this clearly being a dismissal, Diggle went back to boxing with an imaginary enemy. Barry bit his bottom lip and left to find his old friend.

It didn't take long to find him. Oliver was exactly where Barry would never have looked. In fact, it was only because he was passing by the room that he found him. Cisco and Well's scrap room was commonly used for Cisco's metahuman contraptions, and indeed the pure messiness of the place proved it. It was full of bits of machinery and technology that was years ahead of their time, and also very dangerous. So it was a mystery why anyone would be in here or even how anyone could find it; Barry sometimes got lost trying to find the place.

Should have known Oliver would stumble across it.

He was sitting at a worktable, fidgeting with a small device in his hands, brow knitted with concentration. His hands worked methodically, as if he had done this a thousand times before, and upon closer inspection Barry realized that he had tied a wire around one of his arrows and connected it to a small box.

"Oliver?" He asked, a bit worried about how engrossed Oliver seemed with his task.

"Hi, Barry," true to form, Oliver didn't seem surprised to hear him approach. He went on before Barry could ask what the hell he was doing. "I heard that you helped my new team with a metahuman," he gave Barry a tired but grateful smile. "Thanks for the assist," Barry felt a warmth spread through him, and he couldn't help but grin. Nevertheless, he couldn't accept the thanks.

"I did no less than what you've done for me a hundred times," he pointed out affectionately. "You've got a wide range of characters running around with you now," he observed, remembering Rory's reserved nature, Curtis's Felicity-like persona and Rene's ready anger. Not exactly like the first Arrow team he had. Oliver shrugged.

"They all have a different kind of potential. I can see it. Once they learn to work together as a team, they'll be nearly unstoppable. There won't be much reason to keep me around anymore," though he phrased it like a joke, Barry heard some dry regret in his tone. He tried to counter it with a joke of his own.

"Why, Oliver, are you actually…. _Believing_ in the goodness in people?"

Oliver's glare could have cooked a turkey, but for some reason it only made Barry grin and shrug unrepentantly. He did like teasing Oliver. "No, I'm believing in the _potential_ of people," Oliver grumbled. "It worked with you, didn't it?" Opinions may have varied on that idea, but Barry wasn't there to talk about him.

"Yeah, listen Ollie… Ok, what are you doing?" Barry asked, studying the small device.

"Assembling a bomb," he answered with utmost serenity.

"You're _what?_ Why? How do you even know how to do that?" He fired off, taking a few hurried steps backwards. Gosh, he had known Oliver was a little… depressed, but what the heck? Who just assembled bombs for fun? Ollie snorted as if he had asked a silly question.

"Well, there's not much else for me to do right now. I've already assembled a few," he jerked his head to the pile of devices resembling the one he was working on now. Already he had made a neat line with them, all of them sitting there patient and innocent-looking. "I'm keeping my hands busy."

Barry sputtered. "Are they _functional?_ " He squeaked.

"Why would I make unfunctional bombs, Barry? They might come in handy later." Barry stared a minute more, wondering if he should ask once more how Ollie knew how to make bombs, but finally decided against it. There were a lot of things he would never know about Oliver Queen and he was content to let it stay that way. "Did you need something? Has Felicity found anything yet?"

"Not yet, no. Listen, I came to ask…"

"I'm fine."

Barry scoffed a laugh. "You also said that you nearly had that vigilante character too, but from where I stood he was about to scar face you. The truth, please," now Oliver's face shut down, transforming from the man he knew into his other persona. The Arrow stared back at him, emotionless. As it was, Barry just crossed his arms and stared back.

"Barry, do you really think hours before an _alien invasion_ is the greatest time to talk about _my feelings_?" He drawled sarcastically.

"If it were up to you, we'd never talk about them so yeah. Now is the perfect time," Barry softened. "C'mon Oliver. Dig told me what happened, what the Dominator's did to you guys. I know it can't have been easy, and the more you have to keep it all locked away the less you're going to be focused," he tried to reason. His logic apparently amused Oliver. He snorted.

"I've focused on a mission with a lot more than just _this_ sitting on my chest," he informed Barry, using tweezers to cross two wires with an engineer's precision. Barry watched, entranced. He had disassembled and seen plenty of bombs in his lifetime, but never had he witnessed the creation of one. "Are you sure this isn't more about _you,_ Barry?" Taken aback, Barry felt his bows knit together.

"What do you mean?" He asked.

"I saw you try to run after me. Right before we were captured, and I know you," without turning, he jabbed Barry in the chest with a screwdriver. "I know that you probably blamed yourself every second we were away," talking to Oliver was creepy sometimes. Sometimes he was so fantastically screwed in his convictions and motives that it terrified Barry a little bit to understand just what it meant to go through the things Oliver had and come out the other side… Other times, he was so good at reading into other's motivations and convictions that Barry felt transparent around him, lesser than the Flash, lesser than himself. He felt so devastatingly human.

And humans could be selfish assholes sometimes.

Like now. Barry ran a hand through his hair anxiously. "You would have done the same thing," he grouched, pulling out the stool next to Oliver and taking a seat. Oliver continued building his bomb as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

"That's not the point. What happened wasn't your fault. None of us saw it coming. Not the trained assassin, tech-obsessed boy-scout, Military veteran, daughter of R'as Al Ghul or me. So, no offense, but I don't understand how you think you were gonna save the day. Hand me the tweezers again, please," he was so calm while telling Barry he wasn't all-powerful. It would have been funny if it weren't so _messed up._ Barry did as he was told.

"Had anything happened to you guys, that wouldn't have mattered."

"Well, we're all alive, so it does matter."

"And what about next time?"

"You saying you believe I'm building bombs just for there to be _a next time_?"

"Ollie c'mon. You know how this game works. There could be a next time, and you heard future me's transmission. A 'war coming'? who else would it be?"

"You obviously have a short concept of what war can look like. Screwdriver."

"This new believing in people attitude you have now? I need you to knock it off. And would you stop building bombs?!"

This time Oliver turned in his seat to face him, so quickly that Barry flinched when he was glaring aggravatedly at Oliver's face and then he was met with a set of determined eyes, results from The Arrow and Oliver intertwined. "No, Barry! I will not stop. I will _never_ stop. I won't stop fighting or living or trying until the job gets done. Do you think for a second that's what my family would have wanted? My family died telling me to _go on._ To keep fighting. And that's what I'm going to do, no matter what happens. Question is," he looked Barry up and down, a challenge tinged with disgust. "Are you going to do the same?"

Barry blinked, shocked. He had never heard Oliver speak so vehemently, and he also hadn't stopped to consider what he was asking. Was that what he was doing? Had his mistakes so weighed him down that now he had just stopped? Just stopped seeing the world going on around him while he lamented its changes? It seemed to Oliver that that was what he was requesting.

Barry held Oliver's gaze and gulped. "I don't know if I can," he admitted. "I'm getting to my breaking point, Ollie," it made his heart ring with agony to admit it, but it was true. He was getting to a point where he didn't want to breathe for fear it would screw something up, much less run. Fight. Struggle. Oliver didn't seem to care about that.

"So?" He demanded. "At least you're getting somewhere. And once you get there, Barry, keep going," now his voice softened. "I have seen men at their best and worst. I think you'll find that you are capable of stretching yourself much farther than you originally believed." Again, his whole _believe in yourself because I believe in you_ thing? It was kinda freaking Barry out. And what was worse was that Oliver actually did believe. He actually did think Barry could keep going…

He really believed that they were all going to be alright.

Barry sighed and laid his forehead against the cool surface of the work desk, letting his tense shoulder's settle. He felt a strong hand grab one and massage it comfortingly. "How did you become so strong?" Barry inquired softly.

"Learned it from others," Oliver answered immediately. "John. Felicity. Laurel. Roy. You. We aren't traveling a well-worn or easy path, Barry, but we are traveling a worthwhile one. Believe me," Barry sighed.

"I do believe you," he promised in a whisper. And he found that he did. He believed Oliver because… Well… He was like an older brother to him and Barry couldn't _not_. He had to believe in something and the Arrow had been his first superhero. That fidelity did not die even during an alien invasion or in an alternate timeline. His head felt like lead when he raised it. "You know, if this had been a timeline where we never met, I don't know if I would still be the same person," he contemplated.

Flashpoint had not really changed him, just everyone around him. But had he never met Oliver Queen, it most certainly would have changed his entire being. His whole soul. "You would be," Oliver, idiot that he was, replied. "Like I told you a long time ago, I don't think that lightning struck you Barry, I think it _chose_ you. It will always choose you. You'll perpetually be a hero, no matter who you meet or where you go."

Barry rolled his eyes. Oliver was so dense sometimes, especially when one took into account his own opinions about himself. "That's nice, Ollie," he smiled. "I really wouldn't be here if not for you though, especially these past couple of days. So…Thank you," even though Oliver just ducked his head calmly, Barry could still see the blush on his cheeks.

"Whatever, Flash," he tried to grouch, infinitely pleased. "Go on, now. Unless you want to learn how to make bombs, go find someone else to therapy session," Barry laughed and stood.

"Alright, alright, Russian mobster. I'll leave you to it. Just try not to blow us all up?" Oliver waved a dismissive hand that spoke volumes. Barry snickered and turned to go, but Oliver's quiet call halted him where he stood.

"Barry, if something ever does happen to me…"

His blood ran cold. "Don't. Please Oliver."

"I want you to know that I wouldn't here without you either. I never want you to forget that, alright? Never stop fighting, just like I taught you," The hot tear that flooded down his face felt like the future. It felt like his heart being burdened with an omen he had never wanted.

"Promise me that," Oliver demanded, and there was something eerily urgent in his tone. Barry felt his heart pang. He closed his eyes.

"I promise," he choked, even though it made his heart pound in terror and more tears flood down his face. They were both too knowing to think themselves invincible, or immortal.

 _"_ _There's a war coming Captain Hunter…"_


	3. Chapter 3

**_Forty years later:_**

"Oliver, stay with me. Stay awake, ok? Diggle and Rene are coming," Barry implored as he leaned over his old mentor, eyes darting around as he struggled to keep track of where the shots were coming from. An explosive landed a few feet away, and Barry gasped as he threw himself over Oliver, shielding him from the debris with his own body.

"Ugh!" He cried out as a piece of shrapnel stabbed him in the back, right over an old wound that he could still feel sometimes, when the rain pelted him too hard… Barry scoffed a half laugh half sob as he partially turned and yanked it out. His quiet exclamation made Oliver open his eyes, cloudy with agony and exhaustion.

"Barry…" he whispered and his voice was weak, quieter than the usual commanding, brusque tone that he had perfected over the years of his mayor ship.

"Hey," Barry admonished quickly, lying a gentle hand against Oliver's sternum. "Don't speak. Save your strength, alright? We're almost out of here," he gazed up at the sky anxiously. There were only clouds with streaks of blood red and black from the bombs. It continued for miles onward, over Central and Star City to beyond. "Where are you, Legends?" He whispered, desperate.

The sounds of snipers and fighting became noticeably dimmer. Barry could have wept in relief. That meant that Diggle and Rene were getting closer, along with medical help. No sooner had Barry thought it that Oliver suddenly coughed, blood bubbling at his lips. His body convulsed in pain as he weakly rolled unto his side. Barry cringed at the hoarse sounds of pain that resounded in his friend. He reached out, squeezing Oliver's shoulder in solidarity. There was little else he could do.

"Almost there, Ollie," he told him, gently lying his forehead on Oliver's shoulder. It was only half the size it had been last Barry had seen him nearly two months prior. All of the muscle had vanished beneath the biting pain of hunger. Barry could feel the outline of sturdy bone beneath his forehead, and not for the first time _screamed_ at himself for this _stupid_ plan. Using Oliver as bait… I had gone horribly wrong and he should have known, he should have been _faster_ …

"I'm here," Barry choked out, feeling as if Oliver's agony was his own. "I'm here, and I'm not gonna leave you. Not until I get you home and you're better," he looked up into the murky sky as jets flew overhead and rearranged himself closer to Oliver, trying to pull them snugger against the truck they were using for cover in the broken street.

"Barry," he turned back to Oliver, and couldn't help but want to break someone's neck at what he saw. Several beatings had left Oliver Queen a battered man, his face marred by bruising and cuts, his cheeks hollow from malnutrition. Barry had tied a makeshift bandage around the stump that used to be his right arm, but it had been covered by blood now, so completely soaked that it probably weighed as much as Barry did by now.

He reached out and gently carded a hand through Oliver's mane of unshaven hair. He looked like he had when he first came back from the island, matted and shaggy. "Yeah, Oliver?" Barry replied. Despite their circumstances, when Barry had asked Oliver to help him in the war against… Well, it felt like everyone by now… Oliver had not hesitated. He had not balked. They were too old of friends for there to be any question.

Practically brothers. "They… They aren't going to… Be here in time," Barry couldn't watch a brother die.

"No," he said immediately, infusing his fear in the guise of anger. "No, don't say that. You can do this Oliver," said person cringed as another wave of pain hit him. Barry grabbed one of his hands, letting him squeeze the hell of him if only it helped. The other hand kept stroking Oliver's bangs away from his face. "You've survived worse things than this, and besides, the others have been worried sick. Diggle and Felicity, Laurel and Cisco, and Thea? She's worried herself into fits. You have to hold on for them, Ollie. Just a little longer," he tried to negotiate.

Oliver shook his head, eyes fluttering. "It's too late," he wheezed. His diaphragm stuttered, and his grip on Barry's arm got stronger. "Barry, please… My city…" Which was now in shambles since their plan had fallen apart. Along with most other major cities in the world.

"We'll save it, Ollie. Together."

"N-no. You will. I trust you," Barry pressed a thumb against the pulse in Oliver's wrist, and his entire body shook with terror when he felt it stuttering slowly.

"No, no, no!" He looked up, eyes scouring the skies as his fingers pressed against the broken earpiece there. There was still nothing, no ripple, no sign of the Wave rider breaking through the fog to save them. "Felicity, Cisco, Curtis! Come in, someone. Dig? Speedy? Kid Flash? Canaries? Please answer me. Please," he pleaded. He couldn't just sit here and do nothing. He couldn't watch his friend bleed out because some idiot had chopped off his arm to torture them. And Oliver would most assuredly die if he tried to speed him away, the shock of its impact wrecking his already feeble body.

Barry had never felt so helpless.

He pressed a hand against Oliver's cheek, feeling crumbly stubble against his palm. "Stay with me, Ollie. You're our leader. We need the Arrow still, and so many people need _you_ ," _including me. I don't know if I can do this without my hero._

"You can lead," Oliver informed him, glassy pupils staring vacantly into the sky, as if he were re-watching a scene from the past, perhaps seeing the dark clouds that had preceded the Gambit's going down.

"Not alone, I can't," his voice cracked. "Oliver, I would never forgive myself. Please… Hold on please." Oliver smiled a bit, his cracked lips leaking blood as he did so.

"Flash," he chuckled hoarsely. "You _can._ Do you remember… The Dominators, your promise? I made you promise. Remember it," now his gaze focused on Barry, and the affection there made his heart clench painfully. He couldn't do this. Please, oh please, he couldn't watch Oliver Queen die.

But he had too, because Oliver was right as usual. His journey was over.

Barry sobbed aloud, running his thumb over a cheekbone. "I promise," he vowed again. Oliver gave a nod, his body settling with relief as if that was all he had needed.

"Good," he decided. "Tell the others, my sister… That they made my life full. Worth it. Watch out for them?"

"You know I will," Barry sniffled. "Oliver, I…" What did he say? Thank you for everything? I'll miss you every day? You're one of my best friends in life? I won't let you down? "I couldn't have asked for a better big brother." Oliver's eyes crinkled with an emotion Barry had never seen on him before. Anger, determination, affection, peace he had seen, but he had never seen Oliver look _fulfilled._ As if for the first time since he had returned from the island, he saw the man Barry and Felicity and Diggle and Thea saw in him. He could finally see his own light.

One trembling hand reached up and gently cupped Barry's face. "Brother," he agreed with utmost affection before his body convulsed. Barry saw pain flash in vacant eyes before they stared past him into space, the light slowly draining. His sole arm dropped.

"Oliver?"

His blue eyes shut, and with a slow exhale Barry felt Oliver Queen's stuttering heart fail for the first time in forty years. His world-bearing shoulders sagged and for the first time in their relationship, he left Barry standing alone.

The Flash bowed his head, burying his face in Oliver's blood stained neck as tears built in his eyes. "Ollie," he whispered in absolute agony. "Oh Ollie," he gripped the back of his mentor's clothes tightly, like a child cradling their father and rocked slowly. And minutes later when the Wave Rider finally burst through the atmosphere and showered vengeance upon their enemies, when Diggle and Rene ran forward brandishing guns and ready for rescue, they found him just like that, crumbled but alive. And The Arrow drained of life.

Barry would not remember what happened later. He would not recall John skidding to his knees next to him, or how he gently pried Barry's arms away, calling Oliver's name repeatedly. Begging. He would not recall how Rene put a hand on their shoulders as John found no pulse and screamed into the sky with an anger and grief so intense it echoed in the caverns of Barry's heart. He would not remember how Sarah and Ray found them on the ground, John hugging Oliver's head to his chest as he wept. Sarah and Laurel would also scream. Ray would fall to his knees. And overall, Barry would try to blot out the sights and sounds of their collective worlds crumbling to dust alongside their first hero.

The world's greatest hero.

Never, _ever_ would Barry Allen forget when they won the war however. It claimed so may lives. Mass graves covered the Earth. Abandoned towns and streets were in rubble, and he had been so strung out from leading he was not sure if he wanted to ever don his red suit again.

But he would. Oliver had made him promise.

He would also never forget the funeral that the world held for the Green Arrow. The heroes he had inspired stood around a fourth grave somewhere in the mountains of Lian Yu and watched as the green hood was lowered right next to a bow and a single arrow, the last one Oliver had ever made. To the left, Robert Queen stayed stoic and reverent. The Arrow had been born on this island, and it had been Thea's idea to put the vigilante to rest right there. Barry would remember his heart swelling in both anguish and pride when a prayer was said for him in languages he had rarely ever heard, much less known existed.

"We pray to the Earth," Nyssa recited in Arabic, her voice lilting and respectful.

"To the seas," Tatsu added in Japanese.

"To the winds," Anatoli said in brusque Russian.

"That when we commend this soul to your arms, you weigh all the good and evil, and find it worthy of mercy." Though the words had been taught to him, The Flash still found that he meant it with all his soul. The words vibrated through his being and sparked a blaze of lightning far off in the distance, towards the place where the Gambit had stumbled into the arms of an unprecedented storm. A storm of lightning.

 _"_ _I don't think that lightning struck you Barry, I think it chose you. It will always choose you."_

"It chose you first," Barry whispered, the speed force sparking fire in his veins. Arsenal and Speedy raised flaming arrows and fired them into the dark North China air. Black and White Canary bared their necks and sang into the night. And the others stood there, commending the Arrow into the arms of mercy.

Just as he had once done with them.

Now, _Oliver Queen's_ funeral was not a small affair. People from every corner of a grateful world and city attended, now that they knew The Vigilante, Hood, Arrow and Green Arrow had been amongst them, had _led_ them for years. The sheer number of green flowers placed at his memorial was enough to make Thea and Felicity cry with gratitude. And though Barry felt that Oliver would not have wanted it, Star City quickly became Queen's City, the Arrow memorial placed right at the city's border, a statue of a hooded king still watching over his kingdom like a guardian angel of marble.

Yet to Barry he had not been marble. He had been a brother.

And his brother was buried between Tommy Merlyn and Moira Queen.

 _"_ _We are here to celebrate a life worth living, a life that had been lived to its fullest extent in secret,"_ Barry Allen smiled as he stopped before Oliver's grave a few days later. Sticking pale and feeble fingers into his pockets, he gazed down at the name with affection. A light rain fell from the sky, making the arrow scars in his back tingle. He chuckled.

The world would go on, begin rebuilding itself just as Oliver had done for himself a thousand times. Humanity would rise out of its own ashes. They would live on, fully and worthily.

Central City now had Kid Flash action figures. Caitlin's daughter was in D.C. with Laurel, trying to help rebuild an international coalitional democracy from the ashes of their old world. Cisco was helping restock the police stations of the country. They were all so busy Barry didn't have words to describe how lucky he felt to have such amazing friends.

John Jr. led the new team Arrow with the same devotion that his uncle had, as the new Arrow. Felicity said that he preferred to be called Archer. Dig said it was because that was the nickname Oliver had given him when he was ten and had begged his uncle to teach him how to work a bow. The two original gangsta's still helped out. Felicity was helping rebuild the world's technological basis, while Diggle and Lyla relocated soldiers that had lost everything during the war.

William Queen, Oliver's only living child, stood as mayor of Queen's City. He was lucky enough (or cursed enough?) to have Archer's sister Sarah as his chief of staff, and she bossed him around while Quentin still shook his head, muttering with pure exasperation "What are you doing, Queen?" When William made an Oliver-like move. The Legends were somewhere in time, risking all for life, liberty and maybe some romance, if he knew Sarah Lance. It seemed things were falling into and out of place at the same time, and Barry had contemplated hanging up his suit.

He wouldn't do it. He had a Justice League to lead after all. He would never stop running, fighting, trying.

"I promised you," he reminded Oliver's grave with a sad smile. "You taught me well, Ollie. All of us. This is not an easy path but it is a worthy one, and I will be worthy of the lessons you taught me," Barry grinned. "And when it is my time, I want a rematch. We'll see who wins, you or me," he could almost hear Oliver's amused chuckle.

 _"_ _Since we're sharing, you were wrong too… Right now. Because you think you can kick my ass. I can tell."_

"Well, if you're gonna kick mine, you better move fast," he murmured aloud, trapped in the pleasant memory.

 _"_ _I get it Barry. I get it. You're fast…Now get going."_

Oliver did always know when it was time for him to leave. With a slight incline of the waist because that's what students did in ancient cultures, right? Bowed before their masters? Barry pivoted on a heel away from the grave of his older brother and sped away into the life he meant to finish living, towards the world which still needed his protecting.

And when he passed city limits, he could have sworn he saw the Arrow's statue wink at him in the light of day.


End file.
